Because so many of the recipes I have make a gazillion dozen cookies and I bake for two people, scaling is one of the reasons I'm interested in formulas. The other is to balance the liquid / fat / dry ingredients. How many times has s/one posted that this or that baked good recipe didn't turn out? Too chewy, too soft, etc.?

From what I understand, flour is always 100%. The formula is based on the assumption that 100 lb of flour is needed. To scale it, weight of ingredient over weight of flour x 100 % = % of the ingredient. The advantage is that the formula can be adapted for any yield and single ingredients can be varied without changing the whole formulation. What I find interesting is that 70% of a whole egg is water, so that has to be factored in when figuring out the amount of liquid required in a recipe. And, since the size of the eggs I use is not standard (my "large" eggs are larger than those sold in the store--which my grandma's probably were too which is why sometimes the recipe has 2-3 eggs required), I want to be able to make the adjustment based on percentages.

The fat content in whole milk vs. skim milk has to be factored in when making adjustments for the amount of fat in a recipe. I guess since many of the recipes I bake also were those my grandma baked, I have to assume she used whole milk when making them and I generally have 2% or skim milk in the house, which might explain why they just aren't the same as grandma's, even though I follow her recipes. Although I have TNT recipes, I am looking at trying to figure out how to adjust my grandma's recipes using today's ingredients. I can't see any reason why not to do it for home baking. A lot of the recipes I see here combine imperial and metric measurements (liquid is metric, dry ingredients imperial). I think it would be easier to have everything in percentages.

I haven't quite figured it all out, yet. I have only been "pre-baking." I haven't dragged the stand mixer out or gotten the bread or pastry flour out of the car, yet.

So it might make sense for you, with your exceptional circumstances, but most home cooks using standard ingredients and known recipes wouldn't gain much, imo.

From what I remember, problems with texture are usually associated with the baker's preferences, or a baker substituting ingredients without realizing how much and what kind of a difference it will make, and not necessarily a problem with the recipe.

I lent the textbook on Professional Cooking to the young lads. The elder of the two (12) has made French bread, long pie crust, and sponge cake using the percentages in the book. I hope this is something he will remember for all of his life (and his partner will be very happy he learned to cook. I am so proud of him and love him to the moon and back). And, their mom thanked me for letting them be a part of my life...she got that wrong--I am so thankful THEY are a part of MY life.

I read about baker's percentages and it certainly makes sense in a commercial establishment. Much, much easier to hang 14 recipes (or "formulas") in percentages than to hang 140 different recipes up to make different amounts of the same fourteen things.

For me, personally, I have no need for that. It's exactly the same thing, however it is written, so I don't need percentages. If I had to convert it, I could do the math, but no need.

We used baker's percentage to figure out the krumkake recipe using the Girls' eggs. First we weighed the eggs and flour, and worked from there. The krumkake turned out. We also used baker's percentage to make whole wheat pastry flour pie crust and pita bread using rye flour we ground from rye a friend grew. So far, the percentages are working--the boys are also having to hone their math skills.

We used baker's percentage to figure out the krumkake recipe using the Girls' eggs. First we weighed the eggs and flour, and worked from there. The krumkake turned out. We also used baker's percentage to make whole wheat pastry flour pie crust and pita bread using rye flour we ground from rye a friend grew. So far, the percentages are working--the boys are also having to hone their math skills.

A lot of very old English recipes dating back to the early days of reasonably priced domestic scales are worded not so much in pounds and ounces but along the lines of " take the weight of 4 eggs in flour, sugar and butter".

__________________Donít look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Stomp along and switch the bl**dy thing on yourself.

A lot of very old English recipes dating back to the early days of reasonably priced domestic scales are worded not so much in pounds and ounces but along the lines of " take the weight of 4 eggs in flour, sugar and butter".

That is certainly an excellent way to compensate for non-standard sizes of eggs.

As I understand it a pound cake is called that because it uses a pound of eggs, a pound of sugar, and a pound of flour.

__________________
May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live.
Robert A. Heinlein

A pound of butter doesn't necessarily weigh a pound...just saying. The Scandinavian recipes for pastries, breads, cakes, and cookies I have are easier to figure out if one weighs the ingredients and goes with percentages.